he cited the most recent fbi statistics that showed in 2011, the murder rate in states that kill their own prisoners exceeded the rate in states prohibited from killing prisoners. that is simply what it is, right? a state killing its own prisoners who you remember are people and sometimes those people are, in fact, innocent. a maryland man was almost among those innocent victims until he became the first american on death row to be exonerated by dna evidence. this is how kirk blood worth seen here in the blue shirt reaching for the sky reacted to the maryland house vote to repeal the death penalty. yes, folks, that is how you react when you've worked this hard to get rid of the death penalty in your state that once almost took your own life. joining me now are congressman barbara lee of california, a state which still has legal death penalty. nyu law professor kenji yoshino. barry shekt, co-director of the innocence project and the man in the photo. kurt bloods worth, an advocacy director at witness to innocence. i want to start with you. tell me a little bit about how your story turne